Its all plain sailing with these train savings. (nationalexpress.co.uk)

Member Name: thegoldencat

Product:	nationalexpress.co.uk
Date:	03/12/08 (119 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple, clear and easy to use. Savings to be made.

Disadvantages: Cheap trains are often at odd times.

Overview
The website of the multi-national coach and train service provider National express. This website can be used to order tickets prior to travel, making savings on the standard price.

Review
I recently made use of this site to order train tickets. This was the first time I used the site and I was mightily impressed with it and even more so with the amazing savings I made.

To order your tickets is a fairly simple and painless procedure. This makes for a pleasent change, as normally trying to do something like this online is a process so unspeakably annoying that it can cause severe outbreaks of foul language and/or computer-hurlage.

Right, to order your tickets then, you simply fill in the relevant details using the side bar, selecting bus or train, providing the station you're departing from and your destination as well as the dates and times of departure and return (if appropriate).

You will now be presented with all the available services within the specified time period. All the relevant information is provided on each service such as amount of changes and journey duration. From this screen you choose the trains you want and select your ticket type (single, return etc.) The option to amend your search is offered on the side so you can make minor alterations without having to press back, and start all over again from the beginning. If I had noticed this button when I used the site, then I'm sure it would have been very useful.

If you have specified exact dates then you may be able to select an advance single. These are much, much cheaper but are only valid on the exact day and on the trains you choose. The selection of possible trains with this service will be smaller and often at innoportune, off-peak hours. Personally for instance I'm going to be setting off at half past nine at night and arriving at two in the morning. Not ideal of course, but these are only minor inconveniences and when you consider how much you are saving, its worthwhile in the end. And what with trains being so rediculoulsly expensive in these times of economic woe there has never been a more apposite time to use this marvellous money saving site.

Once you have selected your times and ticket types just press buy and you're almost finished. You can pay with various credit cards. Give them your address and they'll mail your tickets to you.

All in all this shouldn't take too long and its a simple and self explanatory process. It took me around half an hour but thats only because I was making sure I took my time and got the best deal available. The deal I got was less than twenty pounds for two singles from York to N.Wales and back. Not too bad.

Now I've checked, and the price I would have payed, if I hadn't used the site, and if I didn't have a student railcard stands at a whopping £80.40. Eighty pounds! I could fly to Paris and back on that. And have change for a coffee and a croissant overlooking the Seine. That sounds infinitely more alluring than rainy, rainy North Wales does it not.

Therefore purely through crafty consumerism I have saved somewhere in the region of sixty pounds. Thats sixty lovely pounds I can go home and spend on christmas presents for myself. And the family I suppose.

Theres nothing quite like the feeling you get when having through cunning and artifice attained some sort of advantage. The internet is great for this. Often you can find savings online. These savings generally come at the price of a time-consuming form filling-in process or any number of other inconveniencing factors. Not so here though. I'm going home for christmas for only £20 and you can't put a price on that.

Having ordered the tickets I wondered vaguely whether they would arrive in time. I needn't have. They arrived just two days later. Now thats what you call convenience.

I've reviewed this website for the service it provides obviously. All else is secondary. But on the whole the rest of the website is well laid out, clear and easy to navigate. You can also get information on the company, browse timetables and organise airport transfers.

Sure, its a bit of extra effort but with a bit of provident forward planning you can save some or even a lot of money on your extortionate travel fare and who doesn't like saving money. No one thats who.

Summary: A great site for making travel savings.